Equipment module adapter blocks

ABSTRACT

Equipment racks, methods of installing equipment modules into equipment racks, and adaptor blocks for installing equipment modules into equipment racks are disclosed. In some examples, an equipment rack includes first and second rack rails and a carrier pack mounted to the first and second rack rails. The carrier pack includes first and second pack rails, each pack rail having a plurality of spaced apart mounting holes. The carrier pack includes first and second adapter blocks mounted to the first and second pack rails using the spaced apart mounting holes. Each of the first and second adapter blocks includes at least one post. The carrier pack includes an equipment module mounted to the first and second adapter blocks. The equipment module includes first and second spring loaded latches attached to the posts of the first and second adapter blocks.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/167,498 filed Oct. 22, 2018, which is a divisional of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/727,370 filed Jun. 1, 2015 (now U.S. patent Ser.No. 10/111,355), the disclosures of which is incorporated herein byreference in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This specification relates generally to mounting structures, e.g., formounting computer equipment into racks.

BACKGROUND

An equipment rack can be a standardized frame for mounting equipmentmodules. The equipment modules can be designed to standardizeddimensions to fit in the rack, which can be convenient for mounting,cabling, and upgrading various equipment modules. For example, a datacenter facility can include server rooms with dense configurations ofracks that house servers and other types of computer equipment. Someserver equipment modules come with mounting bracket slides that attachto the sides of the modules and can be the main attachment points toracks. These mounting bracket slides can accept a unique spring loadedlatch on the server equipment modules and a center screw to secure eachside of the server modules.

SUMMARY

This specification describes equipment racks, methods of installingequipment modules into equipment racks, and adaptor blocks forinstalling equipment modules into equipment racks. In some examples, anequipment rack includes first and second rack rails and a carrier packmounted to the first and second rack rails. The carrier pack includesfirst and second pack rails, each pack rail having a plurality of spacedapart mounting holes. The carrier pack includes first and second adapterblocks that are mounted to the first and second pack rails using thespaced apart mounting holes. Each of the first and second adapter blocksincludes at least one post. The carrier pack includes an equipmentmodule mounted to the first and second adapter blocks. The equipmentmodule includes first and second spring loaded latches attached to theposts of the first and second adapter blocks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an example equipment rack;

FIG. 2 illustrates mounting of equipment modules to rails using bothmounting slides and adapter blocks;

FIG. 3A is a front perspective view of an example adapter block;

FIG. 3B is a back perspective view of the example adapter block;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of two adapter blocks mounted to a rail;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an equipment module mount that ismounted to an adapter block that is mounted to a rail;

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the adapter block after a screw has beeninstalled to secure the equipment module to the rack; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for installing an equipment modulein a rack.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An installer can install an equipment module into a carrier pack withoutmounting bracket slides even though the equipment module or some part ofthe equipment module is designed to mount to a rack using mountingbracket slides. The adapter block is useful, for example, for installingcarrier packs of equipment that include multiple equipment modulesintegrated into a single unit. The carrier packs can be spacerestricted, leaving little to no room for mounting bracket slides.Carrier packs that include equipment modules that normally mount to arack using mounting bracket slides can be installed, without themounting bracket slides, by first installing adapter blocks and thenmounting the equipment modules to the adapter blocks.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of an example equipment rack 100. Therack 100 includes a number of vertical rails 102 for mounting equipmentmodules. The vertical rails 102 can include first and second rails,e.g., a left rail on a left side and a right rail on a right side. Therack 100 can be constructed from metal or any appropriate material anddimensioned according to a standard. For example, the rack 100 can bestandard 19-inch rack dimensioned according to Electronic IndustriesAlliance (EIA) EIA-310 standards. The rails 102 include a number ofholes spaced apart at regular intervals, e.g., as specified by astandard.

A carrier pack 104 can be installed in the rack 100. The carrier pack104 is a mechanical structure configured to hold multiple equipmentmodules. The carrier pack 104 can be made from metal or any appropriatematerial or combination of materials. The carrier pack can include oneor more thin metal sheets for supporting the weight of the carrier pack104 and/or individual equipment modules installed in the carrier pack104.

The carrier pack 104 includes rails 106 that include a number of holesspaced apart at regular intervals, e.g., as specified by a standard(EIA-310E). The rails 106 can include first and second rails, e.g., aleft rail on a left side and a right rail on a right side. Equipmentmodules can be installed in the carrier pack 104 using the rails 106,and then the carrier pack 104 itself can be installed into the rack 100using the rails 106 of the carrier pack 104 and the rails 102 of therack 100. The carrier pack 104 can be useful, e.g., in improving thespeed and ease of installing multiple equipment modules into the rack100.

FIG. 1 shows an example equipment module that is a server module 108configured to mount to the rack 100 by mounting slides. The servermodule 108 has a one rack unit (RU) height (e.g., per a standard such asthe EIA standard) and includes computer equipment configured to executeserver software. The server module 108 includes left and right mounts110 and 112 that each includes a spring loaded latch.

The left and right mounts 110 and 112 are configured to snap into themounting slides and then accept a fastener (e.g., a screw) to secure theserver module 108 to the rails 106. The mounts snap in when a springloaded latch closes by action of the spring closing the latch behind oraround a post. The left mount 110 is shown in a closed position, whereit is snapped in, and the right mount 112 is shown in an open position,just prior to being snapped in, for purposes of illustration.

In some examples, the carrier pack 104 does not have space for mountingslides for mounting the server module 108. Moreover, in some examples,the left and right mounts 110 and 112 are secured to the server module108 in such a way as to make it inconvenient to replace the left andright mounts 110 and 112. For example, the left and right mounts 110 and112 can be riveted to a housing of the server module 108.

To improve the speed and ease of installation of the server module 108into the carrier pack 104, an installer can first install adapter blocks114 to the rails 106 of the carrier pack 104. Then, the installer canmount the server module 108 to the adapter blocks 114. The spring loadedlatches of the server module 108 attach to the adapter blocks 114, e.g.,by snapping onto posts of the adapter blocks 114 by action of thespring. The spring loaded latches can snap-in, e.g., behind or aroundthe posts. Finally, the installer can mount the carrier pack 104 to therack 100.

The carrier pack 104 can be a converged infrastructure (CI) system orone or more components of a CI system. A CI system, such as a Vblock®System from VCE Company, LLC, can include a single computing platformunit associated with multiple equipment modules of physical CIcomponents and related software for performing virtualization, cloudcomputing, and/or other information technology (IT) functions. The CIsystem can include compute components, storage components, and networkcomponents.

Moreover, a CI system can include multiple computing system resourcecomponents, such as physical resources and/or virtual resources, in apreconfigured or prepackaged computing platform, where some resourcecomponents are developed and/or manufactured by multiple entities. Forexample, a CI system can include data storage devices, servers (e.g.,web servers, file servers, etc.), networking equipment, and software formanaging physical resources and/or virtualized resources (e.g., virtualservers).

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an example rack 200. The example rack200 shows the mounting of equipment modules to rails 202 using bothmounting slides and adapter blocks for purposes of illustration.

The rack 200 has three example equipment modules 204, 206, and 208mounted to the rails 202. The equipment modules 204, 206, and 208 caninclude any appropriate type of computer equipment, e.g., processors,memory, storage, networking, and the like. The equipment modules 204,206, and 208 can be dimensioned according to a standard that matches thestandard of the rack 200.

The first equipment module 204 has a one rack unit (RU) height, e.g., asdefined by a standard. The first equipment module is configured to mountto mounting slides 210 using left and right mounts 212 and 214 that eachinclude a spring loaded latch.

The second equipment module 206 is mounted to the rack 200 using leftand right adapter blocks 216 and 218. In general, the adapter blocks 216and 218 are not handed, and the terms “left” and “right” are used todesignate that one is on the left side and one is on the right side. Forexample, the adapter blocks can be identical, and they can be configuredto be able to be mounted on the left or right rail by flipping the part.

The left and right adapter blocks 216 and 218 are configured to bemounted to the rails 202, e.g., by fasteners such as screws, and then toaccept the spring loaded latches of left and right mounts 220 and 222.The left and right adapter blocks 216 and 218 can each include a holethat is located and sized so that screws can secure the left and rightmounts 220 and 222 to the rails 202. The left mount 220 includes anindentation sized so that, when the equipment module 206 is mounted, theleft mount 220 is flush with the rail 202 and the adapter block 216.

The third equipment module is an example server 208 that includes leftand right mounts 224 and 226 that each include a spring loaded latch.The server 108 can be mounted to the rack 200 using left and rightadapter blocks 228 and 230. Using adapter blocks in this situation canuseful, e.g., where it is otherwise undesirable to use mounting slides.The left mount 224 does not contact the rail 202, and one entire side ofthe left mount 224 is flush with the adapter block 228. The left andright mounts 224 and 226 can have any appropriate shape for mounting tothe adapter blocks 228 and 230.

FIG. 3A is a front perspective view of an example adapter block 300.FIG. 3B is a back perspective view of the example adapter block 300. Theadapter block 300 has front and back sides 302 and 304 and top andbottom sides 306 and 308. The adapter block 300 includes top and bottomholes 310 and 312 that are spaced apart, e.g., to match holes onvertical rails of a rack having holes spaced apart according to astandard. The adapter block 300 also includes at least one central hole314. The terms “front,” “back,” “top,” and “bottom” are used forconvenience to indicate different sides (e.g., opposing sides) of theexample adapter block 300.

The top and bottom holes 310 and 312 can include first and secondnotches, e.g., top and bottom notches 316 and 318, which can be useful,e.g., for secure mounting with certain kinds of equipment module mounts.The adapter block 300 can include cavities 324 within the adapter block300 that can be useful, e.g., to reduce the weight and cost of theadapter block 300. The adapter block 300 can be formed of anyappropriate material or combination of materials. In some examples, theadapter block 300 is formed of metal and manufactured using die casting(e.g., die casted metal).

The adapter block 300 includes first and second posts, e.g., top andbottom posts 320 and 322. The posts 320 and 322 are configured so thatspring loaded latches can slide over the posts 320 and 322 and then snaponto the adapter block 300. For example, the posts 320 and 322 canextend away from a side of the adapter block 300 and have a width W2,from the front side 302 towards the back side 304, that is less than awidth W1 of the adapter block 300. The posts 320 and 322 can includetapered edges 324 and 326 facing the front side 302 of the adapter block300 to aid in allowing spring loaded latches to push past the posts 320and 322 and snap into place behind the posts 320 and 322.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of two adapter blocks 402 and 404 mountedto a rail 102. The adapter blocks 402 and 404 are mounted to the rail106 of the carrier pack 104 using fasteners 406 and 408, e.g., one screwfor each of top and bottom holes in the adapter blocks 402 and 404. Theadapter blocks 402 and 404 include center holes 410 and 412 which lineup over holes in the rail 106 so that the adapter blocks 402 and 404 canreceive screws to secure equipment modules to the adapter blocks 402 and404 and the rail 106.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an equipment module mount 504 thatis mounted to an adapter block 502 that is mounted to a rail 106 of thecarrier pack 104. The equipment module itself is not shown for purposesof illustration. The mount 504 includes a spring loaded latch 508 thatsnaps into place behind a post 506 of the adapter block 502. The post506 allows the spring loaded latch 508 to hold the equipment module inplace until one or more screws can be installed to secure the equipmentmodule in the carrier pack 104.

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the adapter block 502 from FIG. 5 after ascrew 510 has been installed to secure the equipment module to the rack.A back side of the mount 504 and the equipment module for the mount 504are not shown for purposes of illustration. The spring loaded latch 508can stay snapped in to the adapter block 502 after installing the screw510 so that both the spring loaded latch 508 and the screw 510 hold theequipment module in the rack. In some examples, the screw 510 is bettersuited than the spring loaded latch 508 for long term mounting, so thespring loaded latch 508 is primarily used to hold the equipment modulein place while the screw 510 is installed.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method 700 for installing a carrier packin a rack. An installer performs the method. The installer can be, e.g.,a system engineer or service technician. The rack can be a standardizedequipment rack and the carrier includes at least one equipment modulethat includes mounts having spring loaded latches, e.g., as discussedabove with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In block 702, the installer installs adaptor blocks to rails of thecarrier pack. For example, the installer can secure the top and bottomsides of the adaptors using screws that pass through top and bottomholes of the adapter blocks and corresponding holes on the rails of thecarrier pack.

In block 704, the installer inserts the equipment module into thecarrier pack. The force of the insertion causes the spring loadedlatches of the mounts to attach to the adaptor blocks, e.g., by pushingpast posts on the adaptor blocks and snapping onto the posts. The springloaded latches can hold the equipment module in place temporarily.

In block 706, the installer installs screws in center holes to securethe equipment module to the rails of the carrier pack. The screws passthrough the mounts, the adapter blocks, and the holes of the rails.

In block 708, the installer installs the carrier pack in a rack. Forexample, the installer can use screws or other fasteners to secure therails of the carrier pack to the rails of the rack. The installer cantake other steps to complete installation as appropriate. For example,the installer can run cables, make attachments at another end of therack, and continue installing other equipment modules.

Various combinations and sub-combinations of the structures and featuresdescribed herein are contemplated and will be apparent to a skilledperson having knowledge of this disclosure. Any of the various featuresand elements as disclosed herein may be combined with one or more otherdisclosed features and elements unless indicated to the contrary herein.Correspondingly, the subject matter as hereinafter claimed is intendedto be broadly construed and interpreted, as including all suchvariations, modifications and alternative embodiments, within its scopeand including equivalents of the claims. It is understood that variousdetails of the presently disclosed subject matter may be changed withoutdeparting from the scope of the presently disclosed subject matter.Furthermore, the foregoing description is for the purpose ofillustration only, and not for the purpose of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for installing an equipment module in anequipment rack, the method comprising: installing a first adapter blockto a first pack rail of a carrier pack using one or more first adapterfasteners to secure the first adapter block to a first plurality ofspaced apart mounting holes of the first pack rail, wherein the firstadapter block comprises at least one post; installing a second adapterblock to a second pack rail of the carrier pack opposite to the firstadapter block using one or more second adapter fasteners to secure thesecond adapter block to a second plurality of spaced apart mountingholes of the second pack rail, wherein the second adapter blockcomprises at least one post; inserting an equipment module into anopening of the carrier pack between the first and second adapter blocks,causing first and second spring loaded latches of the equipment moduleto attach to the posts, thereby holding the equipment module in placeagainst the first and second adapter blocks; and installing the carrierpack in the equipment rack.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thecarrier pack comprises a converged infrastructure (CI) system, whereinthe CI system includes at least one server having the first and secondspring loaded latches installed on a housing of the server.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each of the first and second adapter blockshas a first width from a front side to a back side, and wherein eachpost has a second width, smaller than the first width, from the frontside towards the back side, and wherein inserting the equipment moduleinto the carrier pack comprises causing the first and second springloaded latches to push past the posts and snap onto the posts.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein each of the posts comprises a tapered edgetapering from the front side to the back side.
 5. The method of claim 1,wherein each of the first and second adapter blocks comprises a centerhole, and wherein the method includes mounting the equipment module tothe first and second adapter blocks using first and second fastenerspassing through the center holes of the first and second adapter blocks.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first adapter block comprisesfirst and second holes that are aligned over a respective pair of thefirst plurality of spaced apart mounting holes, wherein the secondadapter block comprises first and second holes that are aligned over arespective pair of the second plurality of spaced apart mounting holes,wherein installing the first adapter block comprises mounting the firstadapter block using the one or more first adapter fasteners passingthrough the first and second holes and through the respective pair ofthe first plurality of spaced apart mounting holes to mount the firstadapter block to the first pack rail, and wherein installing the secondadapter block comprises mounting the second adapter block using the oneor more second fasteners passing through the first and second holes andthrough the respective pair of the second spaced apart mounting holes tomount the second adapter block to the second pack rail.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein each of the first and second adapter blocks comprisesfirst and second posts, and wherein the equipment module comprises firstand second mounts and each of the first and second mounts comprises atop spring loaded latch snapped in behind a respective first post and abottom spring loaded latch snapped in behind a respective second post.8. An adapter block configured for installing an equipment module in anequipment carrier pack comprising: first and second sides and front andback sides; first and second holes through the adapter block from thefront side to the back side, wherein the first and second holes areconfigured to receive adapter fasteners therethrough for mounting theadapter block to a plurality of spaced apart mounting holes of a packrail of an equipment carrier pack; at least one center hole, between thefirst and second holes, through the adapter block from the front side tothe back side, wherein the center hole is configured to receive afastener therethrough for mounting the adapter block to an equipmentmodule; and at least one post extending away from the adapter block,wherein each of the at least one post is configured to engage a springloaded latch of the equipment module.
 9. The adapter block of claim 8,comprising first and second posts.
 10. The adapter block of claim 8,wherein the at least one post comprises a tapered edge tapering from thefront side to the back side.
 11. The adapter block of claim 8, whereinthe top hole comprises a top notch and the bottom hole comprises abottom notch.
 12. The adapter block of claim 8, wherein the adapterblock is formed of die casted metal.
 13. The adapter block of claim 8,wherein the adapter block comprises a plurality of cavities in theadapter block.